


M'lord

by StarksDeservedBetter



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Arya finds her home, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Post-Canon, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-29 14:40:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19021981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarksDeservedBetter/pseuds/StarksDeservedBetter
Summary: Gendry is adjusting to life as Lord Paramount of the Stormlands. So how will he react when a sailor arrives bearing news of a ship that he spotted with a grey direwolf on its sails?





	M'lord

Gendry stared down at the words on the parchment laid out on his desk. _Why is this so hard?_ He sighed and ran his fingertips through his growing stubble. _I know how to talk, so why is reading so hard?_ Davos had told him that if he wanted to be lord of anything, he needed to know how to read. To give Gendry incentive, Davos had forbidden him from spending time in the forge until he could read this one letter, which he said was important, but wouldn’t tell him what was written on it. So, Gendry spent his nights hunched over his desk trying to comprehend the words. He had decided that being lord of anything was less fun than it sounded in the taverns. He wondered about everyone else he had met in his life and what they were doing but the person he thought of most was Arya. He had seen her ship sailing past Storms End, with the grey direwolf prancing over a field of white. He would have dived off the cliffs and swam out to her if he could have. But the rocks surrounding Shipbreaker Bay were jagged and would have poked him full of holes. So, he was forced to stand there and watch her sail away from him, without knowing if he would ever see her again. Davos had said that there were plenty of ladies in the Seven Kingdoms and one would make a good match for him, but Gendry hadn’t wanted a lady. He wanted her.

Gendry folded the parchment back over itself and picked up the mug of ale that had been sitting on his desk, taking a drink from the cool liquid before setting the cup back down. He had done enough reading for the night. He sighed and prepared himself for his nightly routine; change, stare out the window to sea and pray to see a white sail, then go to bed and dream of being free to roam the kingdoms with the person he loved with all of his heart. But duty compelled him to rule, and he swore to Davos that he would do his duty as be a good ruler. Davos had said that he should look to Jon Snow as an example of how to lead. Gendry had admired the Stark lad and wished he could have seen him rule as King, but he was only a new lord and he knew it wasn’t his place in the council to voice those opinions, especially in front of Arya lest he anger her by asking to put her favourite brother in a position he may not have desired.

He rubbed his head and pondered what he was going to do about the growing reports of wolves in the Kingswood. He shouldn’t have been surprised now that a Stark was king, but apparently there had been sightings of a monstrous wolf stalking people through the trees. The common folk said it was bigger than a horse, but Gendry found that hard to believe. Still, there had never been wolves this close to Storms End in a long time. These were strange times indeed.

**Knock knock knock.**

Gendry’s thoughts were interrupted by the unexpected knock.

“Who is it?” he asked.

“Sorry to disturb you my lord, but a ship just docked. Captain needs to speak with you. Said its important,” a voice from behind the door said.

Gendry’s heart froze. Just the other night, he’d had a nightmare about receiving news that Arya’s ship had crashed and they’d found no survivors. _Surely it couldn’t be…_ Gendry walked to the hearth and placed a hand on the cool stone wall above it, while his other hand was clenched in a fist at his side.

“Come in,” he said, doing his best to hide the shakiness in his voice.

He heard the sound of the door opening, then shutting. He took slow, deep breaths and tried to prevent himself from losing his nerve. “Good news or bad news captain?” he asked, but there was no response. Gendry frowned; _was the captain deaf?_

He turned around and his heart stopped.

“Hello Gendry,” Arya said in a voice barely above a whisper. Gendry gawked at her, unsure of what to do. He’d only had half a cup of ale, so he knew he wasn’t drunk, and he was sure he wasn’t asleep yet. He watched her slip some sort of leathery object into a satchel that was draped across her body, before those striking grey eyes met his again.

““Arya?” Gendry croaked, “Seven hells, am I dreaming?” Instead of answering his question, Arya let out a shaky, excited breath and grinned at him, before she bounded across the room at him and launched herself into the air. Gendry caught her and sighed in relief when he felt those wiry arms lock around his neck and felt her warm breath rushing against his ear, “How…”

“I turned around,” Arya whispered as she placed her hand at the back of his head. “I couldn’t do it.”

“Do what?” Gendry asked in bewilderment.

“Leave,” Arya said breathlessly. Gendry tightened his arms around her and squeezed her harder against him.

“I… I had a nightmare about you the other night. That a sailor came and told me about a crash, of a ship with white sails. And that there were no survivors. I was so scared… I would have sent ships to find it, if it had been true…” Gendry blurted out.

Arya giggled and pressed a light kiss onto his cheek.

“Well we didn’t get far,” Arya said as she unlocked her arms from around his neck. Gendry released his grip on her and watched her drop back to her feet, “The seas out there are wild… We found an island, and that was it until we saw this… thing. This spot in the water, as far as the eye could see. It was swirling, and all the water was being pulled toward it. It would have crushed the ship had we tried to keep going. So, I turned her around and sailed back to here.” Gendry sunk into his chair behind his desk. It felt like his legs had just given out in panic and also relief. “The crew I was with were relieved. The only happy part of our voyage was finding that island. And also naming the ship.”

“Naming the ship?” Gendry echoed, “What did you call it?”

“Wolfborn,” Arya said with a grin. Gendry smiled and shook his head, before chuckling quietly to himself.

“Of course, you did…” he murmured and looked up at Arya, who was smiling back him. Clearly, she was pleased with his reaction, “I wish I had come with you.”

“You have your duty here,” Arya said, bringing him back to reality. “I wrote to you though, about setting up trading posts if I found land. Didn’t you read it?”

“I didn’t get any lett…” Gendry began to say, before his voice trailed off. He looked down at the parchment that was folded on his desk and began to laugh.

“What’s funny?” Arya asked as she swung herself up and perched herself on the edge of his desk.

“Just… Davos gave me this to read,” Gendry said, pointing to the folded parchment that he had been scowling over for far too long, “He said it was important and that I wasn’t allowed back into the forge until I had read it.”

“Why would you not…” Arya began to say until a shocked expression crossed her face, “You don’t know how to read.”

“Aye, I don’t know how to read,” Gendry affirmed.

“How can you be the lord of anything if you don’t know how to read?” Arya asked, flabbergasted.

Gendry laughed again and reclined back on his chair.

“You’re starting to sound like Davos,” he pointed out and Arya let out a bark of laughter, beginning to swing her legs back and forth like she used to do when she was nervous. Gendry looked at her and tried his best to raise an eyebrow like she had done in Winterfell, but he wasn’t nearly as good as she was at it.

“I’m… sorry for leaving,” Arya mumbled, “I should have told you sooner. But I couldn’t… I couldn’t tell you face to face. I couldn’t break your heart like that.”

Gendry reached up and placed a hand gently on her knee making Arya look at him with sad grey eyes.

“It’s alright,” he said, “I would have tried to stop you from going, and that would have made things worse. Like me proposing to you in Winterfell.”

A smile flickered across Arya’s face at the mention of that very drunken night.

“It’s complicated,” she began, twisting a strand of her hair around her finger, “Being us. We can’t go back to who we used to be, no matter how much we wish we could.”

“We can’t,” Gendry agreed, “The only thing we can do is get used to who we are now and do what we can with what we’ve been given.”

Arya looked at Gendry with a look of wonder, an expression that caught him off-guard.

“What?” he asked incredulously.

“Nothing, it’s just… You’re starting to sound like a lord,” she said.

“I am?” Gendry asked.

“Yeah, you’re starting to sound proper,” Arya noted, “There’s less lords each time a war starts in Westeros.”

“Fewer,” Gendry muttered.

“What?” Arya asked.

“Nothing,” Gendry said dismissively, but he couldn’t help himself from smiling. Davos would have been pleased with him, “It’s late, I’ll have someone organise some quarters for you and bring you some supper. I can’t promise there’ll be much left though.”

“I’m not hungry,” Arya said, “And I don’t need quarters, I thought I might be able to stay here. With you. Unless… unless you don’t want me to, m’lord.” she grinned cheekily at him, and gazed into his eyes. Gendry smiled back at her and stood up from his chair.

“Did you get lonely out at sea?” he murmured, making sure to keep his hand on her knee.

“Maybe…” Arya teased, “But, the lord of a castle also gets the comfiest bed. But if you start snoring, I’m going to kick you out.” Gendry laughed and she began to chuckle along with him.

“As m’lady commands,” Gendry said.

“Don’t…” Arya began to say, but then she looked up at him. The light of the fire was dancing across her face and reflecting in her eyes, “Is that what you want?”

Gendry felt like he couldn’t breathe. He swallowed and tried to find the right words to answer her but nothing he willed came out of his throat.

“Only if you do,” he managed to finally say, and Arya stared at him for a moment longer before leaning upward to brush her nose against his.

“I do,” she whispered, and kissed him tenderly.

**Author's Note:**

> This is what we deserved and I’ll hear nothing otherwise
> 
> Thank you to T for dealing with my whining and being my beta for this fluffy ass mess <3


End file.
